No matter who you are, where you may be, where you coming from or where you going, you cannot deny that airports have some kind of effect on you.
Personally, I feel like they have some kind of individual emotional affect on me like no other place. On a beach I am consumed with relaxation. In a park or in the wilderness I am made to feel happy. In a boxed up room I feel angry. In an airport I feel – you see, that’s it. I am not quite sure what to call it. Perhaps I could call it airport syndrome. It’s almost a nomadic feeling of being neither here nor there. Stuck between two parallels. Even my mind doesn’t work as affluently as it should. And sometimes I find myself affected by a jolt of anxiety every now and then. This I like to blame on my childhood. van der Hoven holidays were not your average vacations! One of my fondest memories is of the whole family running through Heathrow airport to get from what felt like Terminal 1 to Terminal 50. Of course spring chicken Ashleigh was bolting it up ahead, followed closely by The Wolf – unaffected by age and steamed stress coming out of his ears. Nicholas trailed after cracking wiseass jokes headed: 10 ways to “ruin the holiday”, and the old maids, Candice, Kristin and Mom followed behind, struggling to grasp onto the tension, anxiety and intent that the Wolf so perfectly portrayed. Did I say this was one of my fondest memories? I’m sorry, its pretty much the way all of my childhood memories of airports go.
Now, a little older and having done so much ‘solo travelling’, I’ve been given the opportunity to slow down and see airport activity for what it really is. People roam airports with confused, mundane and curious expressions on their faces. I ask you, have you ever seen an elated person at an airport? No, I didn’t think so. Not to say that entering airport doors are ultimately a plunge into a mundane or depressing world. I don’t feel depressed in an airport. I just feel… nothing. It’s like a battle to suppress my emotions so as not to get too excited. Because once the excitement hits, you’re doomed! The last thing you want on TWO 12 HOUR flights is to get so overwhelmed with excitement that you can practically feel the seconds go by. That’s 86400 seconds. Passing… by… like... each… second… is… a… moment… by… itself… Painful. Therefore, I enter a state of unemotional being. Rather than focusing about what’s happening internally, I exhort all my energy into observing external activity. It’s humbling to realize that there are other people on this planet that are experiencing their own emotions. Right now I am sitting in front of about 40 people, and each and every one of them have their own life going on. Their own problems, their own challenges, their own goals, their own destinations. Turns out we are much more individual than we realize (and the world does not revolve around me!?!!!)
The only people that ever seem like they are having fun at airports are children. And normally their fun is at your expense. Everyone has at some point in their life been on a flight with some crazy kid running up and down the aisles on the plane. Shaking the back of your chair. Screaming and throwing tantrums. I know for a fact that every person in my family has experienced a kid like this because that was me 10 years ago. (Remember when I was 7 years old and had a Red Bull on a train to Switzerland. Mom, Dad, I am sorry about that. No parents should ever have to go through that…) I always feel so sorry for the parents of a crying baby or a tantrum throwing toddler.
Well, if you haven’t guessed by now. I am at the airport. The infamous LAX. And it is a hole. South African airports are much more attractive and entertaining than American ones. It’s actually quite disappointing really. Never the less, I am coming home and I am so happy! (not too happy though, remember? You can’t let emotions get the better of you in airports!) I am stopping over in London tomorrow, and I will definitely go into the city and do a little looking around. I cant bear the thought of having to spend the day in a Terminal. Then tomorrow evening I leave for Johannesburg and touch down in the morning. I spend the weekend in Pretoria and then I onto the beautiful, beautiful Cape Town.
Cant wait to see everyone. Have missed you very very much. I cant wait to get back to my home country. I am loving Los Angeles, but there is no place like South Africa and furthermore, “No place like home!” (You said it, Dorothy!)
Lots of Love,
Ash
